Kaptan Valmiki, (60), resident of Lohrikapura village in Bhind, died after prolonged illness at Gwalior hospital in the wee hours on Sunday.

Image for representation only. (Getty images)

Bhind: A dalit family was compelled to cremate a dead family member outside their house after upper caste locals allegedly did not allow them to use the village crematorium in Bhind, Madhya Pradesh.

Kaptan Valmiki, (60), resident of Lohrikapura village in Bhind, died after prolonged illness at Gwalior hospital in the wee hours on Sunday.

The family took the body to the village crematorium for last rites but were stopped by some upper caste men.

With no option left, Valmiki’s son Lal Singh arranged a funeral pyre close to their house. “We could not keep the body for long so we had to perform the cremation outside our house,” Lal Singh said.

District Collector Ilaya Raja T has ordered the sub-divisional magistrate(SDM) and senior police officers to conduct a probe and submit a report. SDM Dr Yunus Qureshi said the police and revenue employees have been sent to the village. Later, all encroachment on the land was removed.

District Superintendent of Police Prashant Khare said the accused had encroached on the one-acre land earmarked for village crematorium, and had even sown wheat there last year.

Lokendra and Tomar also hurled cast-related abuse at him, Balmiki said in his complaint at Endori police station.

Locals claimed that the collector has recently handed over piece of land for crematorium but that too was seized by the village musclemen. There is no other cemetery in the village, they said, adding that prior to establishment of this burial ground, they used to perform last rites on a village road.